French Prime Minister François Fillon yesterday ruled out the possibility of La Poste’sprivatisation in an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos.
“I am convinced that La Poste will need financial resources to develop further if it doesn’twant to see other European companies take its place. This will not happen through privatisation,”Fillon told the newspaper in an interview. To ensure the financing of La Poste, Fillon considersamong other options the possibility of the French savings bank “la Caisse des depôts” becoming astrategic partner of La Poste.
The French postal unions including CGT, Sud-PTT, FO, CFDT and CFTC, which took nationwidestrike action last week against government plans to change the legal status of the public postaloperator, expressed their doubts about Fillon’s statement.
“The statements of the Prime Minister are nothing but a lure”, claimed Sud-PTT, estimatingthat the hypothesis about including la Caisse des Dépôts did not at all shield La Poste fromprivatisation. The union FO commented that the statement was a strategic step that did not in anyway solve the real problem, adding that Fillon did not exclude explicitly the creation of a stockcorporation. “It is not enough to say that one wants to turn towards la Caisse des dépôts”, theunion added. “This strategic partnership clearly needs to include the postal bank (La Banquepostale) within the legal structure subject to the unity of the group.”
In late August, La Poste unveiled plans to restructure into a limited company in 2010 and tofloat a minority holding on the stock exchange in 2011 in order to raise €2.5 – €3.5 billion forgrowth, including acquisitions. French media have referred to a possible IPO involving a 10-20%stake. La Poste had already signed a four-year public service contract with the French governmentin July, covering commitments to mail deliveries six days a week and mail delivery quality targets,and the maintenance of 17,000 postal service points across France.
